There's A Sponge Growing On My Roof: The Difference A Green Roof Can Make In The World (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780692025345)

As early as I can remember, people around me were buildings things. My dad was always repairing things around the house and creating ways to store all of our wilderness canoe trekking gear. On canoe trips into the Quetico Park in Canada, he would make all sorts of "Swiss Family Robinson" gadgets and furniture out of sticks, rope, and whatever else we could find. During visits to visit my grandparents home in Honolulu, I would watch them working in their orchid hot house. Building benches, repairing the lathe walls, and making compost bins. They encouraged me to help and soon I was making all kinds of things too. When I wasn't gardening - I was building. Today, I'm building green roofs all around the world, conducting green roof research with colleagues from Finland, and writing children's books about green roofs and other serious environmental topics. My goal is find out what we can do more of, better, or differently. One area I am especially passionate about is reducing the energy required to build green roofs. Even green roofs have a carbon footprint. One of the most important ways to reduce a green roof carbon footprint is to use the only truly natural and organic soil component - pumice. I earned a Master of Science degree from San Jose State University and currently live in Mendota Heights, Minnesota with my wife Pamela and our four grown children. I am the president of Aloha Landscaping and a joint venture partner with LMS Guam in Tumon, Guam. Together with my friend and colleague Bob Salas of LMS Guam we have built the first two green roofs on the remote Pacific island of Guam.